Crop Progress Pest Report as of 7/11/08-Fulton County

Thursday and Friday afternoon last week I traveled the route of Road B and Road L between to Lucas and Williams County lines. I visited the same 35 Corn, 42 Soybean and 25 wheat fields that have been on the route. I was unable to get to a couple fields due to an accident investigation nearby.

Corn has progressed to the early pollination stages. In fact 12 (34%) of the fields were in the R1 stage (silking) , 9 (25%) fields were in VT (tassel) and 14 (40%) fields were in late vegetative (V10-V15). The crop generally looks good but there are water damage areas. Insect pressure is low with some European Corn Borer that had entered the stalk (4 of 35) and very limited numbers of Corn Rootworm beetles (2 of 35). It maybe just a little bit early to evaluate rootworm numbers but we after historically high numbers in 2007 it was noteworthy that very few were found. From a disease standpoint the only disease noted was leaf rust and it was generally just a pustule or two on a leaf and extremely limited in intensity.

Soybeans have generally taken this wet weather harder than the corn. Much of the worst loss of crop was east of 13. One 80 acre field was around 50% lost to flooding from July 2 and 3 rains. From a growth stage standpoint there were 5 (12%) fields in the R1 (beginning bloom), 34 (81%) in R2 (full bloom) and 3 (7%) in R3 (beginning pod). Digging up plants you were starting to see significant regrowth of the roots and some new nodulation. A few leaf feeding insects were present Japanese beetle and been leaf beetle could be found. From a disease standpoint brown spot was the most common disease with some phytopthora in a couple fields. More information on scouting for soybean disease can be found at http://ohioline.osu.edu/b827/0003.html

Wheat was harvested in all 28 wheat fields I had been following. There were still a couple wheat fields not harvested in between stops but we were approaching completion. Wheat yield reports appear to be in the 70-95 range with more it seems in the mid 70-80 range. It seems that 75% of the field were or will have the straw removed. From a nutrient standpoint a ton of straw contains 11 pounds of N, 3 pound of P2O5 and 15 pounds of K2O which at today's fertilizer prices are about $20 a ton plus the value of the organic matter. A general straw yield is 2.7 tons per acre.